Reliance Industries will buy a 24.92% stake in the Ekta Kapoor-promoted Balaji Telefilms, a listed media and entertainment firm, for around Rs 413 crore.

The company’s board on Thursday approved the investment in equity shares of Balaji Telefilms by acquiring 2.52 crore equity shares at Rs 164 per share. (Reuters)

Reliance Industries will buy a 24.92% stake in the Ekta Kapoor-promoted Balaji Telefilms, a listed media and entertainment firm, for around Rs 413 crore. The company’s board on Thursday approved the investment in equity shares of Balaji Telefilms by acquiring 2.52 crore equity shares at Rs 164 per share, RIL said in a filing to the BSE. It said that since it is engaged in the telecom, digital and media businesses, the investment in content production (including digital content) is in line with RIL’s commitment to invest and grow in the telecom, digital and media businesses.

The investment would not fall within related party transactions, and none of RIL’s promoter/promoter group/ group companies have any interest in Balaji Telefilms.

No government or regulatory approvals are expected to be required for the investment, the notice said.

In a separate filing, Balaji Telefilms said that the proceeds from the transaction would be utilised to further speed up content development initiatives, especially for its over-the-top content platform ALTBalaji, to help it compete with other global and India OTT service providers.

Balaji Telefilms, incorporated on November 10, 1994, has a paid-up share capital of Rs 15.2 crore as on March 31, 2017, and generated turnover of Rs 421 crore in FY17.